In the Pines
by Angelycious
Summary: Clementine is left for dead by Kenny and her other group. It is only in her hour of need that she discovers a deeper part of herself she never even knew she had.
1. In The Pines

**In the pines.**

**Story inspired by the ending credits of the second season of the game. Not knowing what has happened after the second episode, I won't make much mention of it, but it is not really needed for this fan fiction anyway. Please enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: This work is not my own and credit goes to Telltale Games and everyone else involved with this and other productions.**

* * *

Clementine couldn't remember anymore what homework was like, what Christmas was like, what having a family was like. An eleven year old girl in a world with dangers at every turn had to grow up fast and even when she thinks she has no more growing to do, something bad happens and she grows even more.

"Kenny!"

Kenny turned to see Clementine over run by walkers, he moved to turn back, but Sarita tugged him away. "She can't be helped Kenny! Come on!"

Clementine watched on in horror and Kenny and the others made their escape from the ski lodge. "Kenny! Kenny! Luke! Please, someone help me!" But as Clementine looked around, for someone, anyone to save her, she realised that she had no one. She was all alone. _Again._

Squaring her shoulders, Clementine looked around at the slowly encroaching walkers. Snapping and snarling could be heard from all angles. They were running her into the trees. The trees were good. She might be able to do something, if she could just find… Aha!

Clementine jumped around to face the opposite direction, just as one of the walkers lunged at her. Flipping her gun in her hand, which still had one bullet left, that Clementine was going to keep, she stuffed it in her jeans and jumped up. She missed the branch at first and was rewarded for her failure by falling right to the ground. One of the walkers grabbed her foot. Clementine began kicking it.

"No! No! Get off of me! No! Get away!" Kicking it appeared to work, at least well enough to break off the walker's hand. Clementine tried not to think of them in genders anymore. It was too easy to associate them to people once she did that. She couldn't afford to hesitate; it was just like Lee told her. Walkers weren't people, they were creatures that were trying to kill her and she had to make sure she got them first.

Clementine scrambled to her feet and looked up at the tree again. If she missed this jump, the walker's would be too close. She could not miss this jump. Closing her eyes and preying to whatever god was left in this world, Clementine bent her knees slightly and kicked up into the air. To her extreme relief, she was able to grab hold of the branch and shimmy herself upwards. These days her upper arm strength was phenomenal. This branch wasn't very sturdy however and as she moved, she could feel it snapping beneath her weight. She was going to have to keep moving up the pine's length until she could get to a part where she would be able to wait out the walkers. Unfortunately she didn't have any food, so she hoped that she wouldn't have to wait too long for them to leave, or she would surely starve.

"Okay, Clementine, you can do this." She pulled her hat lower on her face and carefully stood up on the branch, using the body of the tree and the surrounding branches as support. She was extremely lucky, she knew, because she had never seen a Pine tree like this before, not one that would actually be low enough for her to climb, or sturdy enough to hold her weight. She was a long, long way, from Savannah.

Reaching the sturdier branches, Clementine looked out over the forest and sighed as she realised she actually had no idea where she was. She didn't know this area at all and she had no maps or compass or anything that might give her an idea of where she was. The Ski lodge was miles away, probably and the so called "safe haven" didn't exist anymore.

"I wish you were here, Lee."

"I _am_ here, Clem."

Whipping around at the sound of a long lost voice, Clementine nearly fell out of the tree. It was only due to Lee rushing to grab a hold of her that she managed not to fall out. "Lee! But, you died, back in that Garage! I saw you… _I killed you._" It was the one thing that Clementine regretted above all others. She regretted that it was because of her, that Lee couldn't be here now.

"I am here. It's me. I swear." Lee held his arms out to her, well, as much as he could in the little room he had. Clementine wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now though. Lee was dead, she was sure he was dead, she had been the one to shoot him, she couldn't just let him die and become a walker. She had seen many more deaths since then, but it was Lee's that still haunted her the most.

"Are you going to hurt me?"

Lee looked at her and frowned, dropping his arms. "No, Clem. No. Why would you ever think that?"

Clementine rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Because in every other dream you always hurt me. You say mean things about me being a killer, about Ben and Omid and last night it was Christa."

Lee shook his head and immediately snaked his arms around Clementine to pull her close. "No you listen to me, Clementine, I would never, ever, ever, do anything to hurt you." He said, hugging her so tight that she was finding it to breath. But Clementine didn't care, this felt so much like how she remembered his hugs, she couldn't bring herself to let him go. "I always kept you safe didn't I?"

Clementine nodded, still refusing to look up, in case the mere action of doing so would cause him to disappear. "Don't listen to anything I say to you that is hurtful. It is completely false. Only listen to my words of encouragement, and my voice directing you how to survive. Okay, Sweet Pea."

Clementine pulled away from him then and smiled up at him. "I missed that. You calling me, Sweet Pea. No one ever called me that, except you."

"I'm sorry, does it upset you, I can stop if you like."

Clementine shook her head. "No, no it's fine, it's… its good. I like it, it… makes me forget."

Lee nodded and pressed his lips to Clementine's head. "I missed you. I will always be here with you though, never forget that, whatever else you do, never forget that."

Clementine grabbed a hold of Lee's hand. He looked down at their clasped hands and smiled at her. "Can you stay with me, please? Until I fall asleep?"

Lee didn't say anything, he just sat along one of the branches and sat back, laying his body out like a pillow so that Clementine could get comfortable. "Thanks, Lee."

Lee shook his head. "Don't mention it. You're my girl, right?"

Clementine nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I'm your girl."

~! #$%^&amp;*()_+

When Clementine opened her eyes, Lee was gone, but so were the walkers. Clementine had thought that it was a dream, but she didn't mind. At least she knew that Lee was watching out for her. She always knew he was, but he was an angel now. And Clementine could think of no better person to be her Guardian, then Lee.

Jumping down from the tree, Clementine proceeded deeper into the pines. She didn't know where she was heading, or where the horde had taken off too, but she knew that she would stand a better chance in here, than she ever would out in the open. Exposure was one of the biggest problems she faced on a daily basis, that and nourishment. Clementine had stopped thinking of it as food a long time ago. Now, she would take whatever she could get, whenever she had too.

The second thing, that Clementine was wishing for right now, was a good jacket. It was freezing. She was honestly surprised that she hadn't frozen to death up in that tree, but it had been strangely warm.

"How you doing there, Clem?"

Clementine froze as she turned around to see Lee walking right behind her. "You're here again?"

Lee smiled. "You gonna fault me for wanting to check-up on my girl?" He asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smiling at her.

Clementine shook her head and frowned back. "No of course not. But you are just a dream. Man am I still up in that tree. I don't want to still be in that tree, this was a long walk!"

Lee continued to grin at her until she stopped talking. "Relax; you really did do the walk. I'm just along for the ride."

Clementine sighed and turned to face back in the direction she had been walking before. "Whatever, just stay out of my way, okay?"

"Anything for you, Sweet Pea."

Hidden by the shadow of her hat, a smile touched the corners of her lips. Clementine might have been going crazy, but if this was the result, Clementine was really, quite alright with it.

After a few hours, three walker attacks, a can of bad food and an incident involving Clementine hitting a man over the head with the butt of her gun, Clementine came upon a clearing and it wasn't empty. There was a small group of five people. Three woman and two guys. From what she could see she didn't recognise any of them. They were surrounded by walkers, but they seemed to be doing okay.

"I should just wait here." Clementine suggested to Lee who nodded and sat on the ground beside her, watching the events before them unfold.

The two woman were doing well with their walker's and two of the three guys were okay as well, but one of them - he looked to be younger than the others, though it was hard to tell from this distance - had been cut off from the rest of the group.

"Tommy!" One of the women called to him, but she was too busy to move to save him. The only person, who could do anything, was Clementine. She looked at Lee, but he had disappeared so she looked back to the group and made up her mind.

Emerging from the clearing, Clementine pointed her gun at the walker, though she was unseen by the group and fired. The shot rang out for what she thought had to be miles. When she turned to look at the group, they were all staring at her. She looked down and realised that she was still covered in walker blood from that horde last night. Before they had the chance to point their guns at her, she tossed her now empty weapon aside and held her hands up in the air.

"I'm not bad."

The younger man, who couldn't have been much older the Luke she would think, struggled underneath the walker and Clementine couldn't help but to roll her eyes. Amateurs.

One of the group approached her, an older man, late forties. ""ello there, youngin. My name's Decker, this is my wife Patty and my two daughters Regina and Vivienne. That there boy you just saved is my son, Tommy."

Clementine nodded at each of them in turn. "Hi."

"What are you doing out here all by ye'self?"

Clementine shrugged. "I was looking for...food."

Decker nodded and beckoned to his daughter, the one Clementine was pretty sure was called Regina. "Bring this youngin some food would ya, she's small as a twig."

Clementine didn't say anything, but she lowered her arms as she was handed a half-eaten can of tuna. She raised an eyebrow slightly. She hadn't seen fresh tuna in she didn't know how long.

"How you been surviving out here in these parts by yer'self? You can't be no older'an ten."

"I'm eleven." She corrected them, quite suspicious of this family. There was no way they could have survived by themselves. She looked over her shoulder and once again, Lee was there, but this time he was standing at the edge of the clearing, waving to her. Maybe this was a sign. "My Guardian Angel. He protects me from the bad people." She told them, dipping her hand into the tuna and tasting it slightly. She'd never had tuna before, and it wasn't really that appealing to her, but she had to eat.

"What's your name, Darlin?" Patty asked, walking over to lean down and speak into her eyes. Clementine immediately liked this woman and as she turned to see Lee, he was slowly fading away, mouthing the words, Survive, Sweet Pea. Clementine knew then that this was her place to be. "I'm… Clementine. Clementine Everett."

* * *

**So, there we go then, that was that, thanks for reading and all that. It was a little weird, but it was supposed to be, I was trying to suggest signs of mental and emotion exhaustion with regards to her and the suggestion of a much deeper ingrained mental problem in children that can developed when they are placed in situations of high stress repeatedly. I manifested it in the way of Lee, because I think he was her first real traumatic experience, even including seeing her mother and father as walkers.**

**Thanks for taking the time to read, please review!**

**Angel.**


	2. The Truth Will Out

**The Truth Will Out**

**So, I literally don't know why I wrote this, but people have been asking me to continue even though it was supposed to be a one shot. Why can't I commit to anything guys? Seriously? Anyway, please enjoy the next instalment of In the Pines.**

**Disclaimer: This work is not my own and credit goes to Telltale Games and everyone else involved with this and other productions.**

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Clementine looked over the fire at her new group. It was strange being with them, she was so used to being with Christa and then with Luke that it was strange now. She wasn't even sure how these people survived. Sure she was probably being harsh, but they were some kind of hillbillies or something. These past couple of days have been a blur with them asking her all kinds of questions that she refused to answer. It wasn't because she didn't trust them, she did, well... at least she trusted herself to be able to throw them off if she had too, but she didn't want to get that personal with anyone again. After what happened with Kenny, the only person she was going to trust was herself and Lee.

"Clementine, darlin' bring that axe o'er 'ere. We gotta cut this log an' move it outta the way." Decker called out to her from the edge of the clearing.

Clementine looked around her. It was dark despite the fire and in the end she had to feel around for it, knocking her hands on a couple of rocks as she went. Finally she brushed her hand against it, she was glad it had been the handle end and not the sharp part, she wasn't really willing to cut her hand and add another scar to the one she got from that dog. It still wasn't completely healed yet and probably wouldn't be for another couple of weeks. It was a deep cut after all.

"Thanks." Clementine nodded at Decker as she handed him the axe and removed herself to go and sit back with the others by the fire. Patty was cooking up a rabbit which Decker had found hours ago and Clementine had spent three hours being taught to skin it. Not that she didn't already know, but she didn't talk about her life before a couple of days ago, they probably wouldn't understand anyway. They probably wouldn't believe her. If she hadn't been there, she probably wouldn't believe her either so it's not like she blamed them really.

"How are things for you, Sweet Pea?"

Clementine sat on the log opposite the others and turned away from the fire. Lee came to visit her every night and she was happy when he did. She looked forward to it and it was how she got through each day. "Yeah, it's okay. I don't really understand them too well, but I guess I'm not really trying."

Lee placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Clementine missed the warmth he used to bring to her what seemed like centuries ago, but was only just over two years in reality. But she wasn't wrong really, two years was an awfully long time to survive in this world, she just had to keep at it. "You'll be okay, Honey, you know that. I taught you everything you need to know to survive, didn't I?"

Clementine closed her eyes as she leaned into Lee and nodded slightly. "Yeah, you did, but… it's hard Lee. I miss you every day. When I look at a gun I see us on the train, when I cut my hair, I see our conversation in my head. I look at Decker and I see Hershel. You remember him don't you?"

Lee nodded and stared off into the distance. Clementine was never going to forget that day; it was the first time she had ever seen a person die. Sandra had been dead already when Lee bashed her head in, so that was different, though no less horrifying. She wasn't really sure what had made her trust Lee, but she was glad that she had. He had kept her safe all this time and she was better for it, definitely.

"Lee?"

Lee turned his head and looked down at Clementine, smiling at her to continue.

"Do you think the world will get fixed?"

Lee shrugged, but pulled Clementine closer to him for a hug. "You know what, Sweet Pea?" Clementine looked up at Lee. "I don't think it matters, but either way, I believe that you will always survive."

Clementine hadn't realised how much she would need to hear that, until she did. Her eyes teared up and she pressed her face into Lee's chest, willing herself to calm down.

"Clementine, are'ya ready fer dinner now?"

Clementine looked up from where she had her face hidden in Lee's arms and realised that it was Patty who had called her. She sniffed momentarily and rubbed her eyes to remove the evidence of her crying. When she turned back to Lee, he was gone. Not that Clementine was surprised; he always disappeared when she was called by another. "Yeah, thanks."

Clementine moved closer to the group and reached out for her plate, which was handed to her by Tommy. She nodded at the guy and tucked into her leg of rabbit. Yesterday, Patty had insisted on Clementine eating the biggest portions, but today she had put her foot down, Clementine was the smallest and so she should be eating the smallest portions. Patty had tried to disagree, but after a brief chat with Decker, she had agreed. Clementine was happy either way. She wasn't sure how long she would be with this family; she wanted to make sure she didn't get too used to food, just in case.

"Wow, this is so bad." Tommy complained, looking at everyone else. Regina and Vivienne seemed to agree, though Decker seemed to be enjoying it. Patty looked over to Clementine, "how are you findin' the food, Hon?"

Clementine tore into the leg of the rabbit and looked up at Patty and the rest of the family. She blinked at Patty and put the rabbit back onto the plate. "I don't think it matters how I find it. As long as it is nutritious, does its job and keeps me going, who cares about the taste?" She knew she was being rude, but it was honestly how she felt. She was still hurt over Kenny and Sarita and she still wasn't going to trust anyone but herself, as soon as she learned how to better take care of herself, she would be so far gone from anyone, they would forget she had even been here.

Thinking of Sarita and Kenny made her remember everything that had happened back at the so called Sanctuary. Clementine still couldn't believe everything that had happened. After all that happened with Carver and those others, the horde had been the least of their problems. Or so she had thought.

~! #$%^&amp;*()_+

Clementine jumped down from the platform, following behind Kenny and Rebecca. Seeing Kenny smash Carver in the face like that was not as horrifying as she had expected. In fact, she had almost asked Kenny to let her do it herself. She had stopped herself last minute, luckily. She didn't think they would have taken too it very well.

Sarita rushed to Kenny's side, but Kenny held his hand up to her. "No...no...no, it's okay, i'm alright, we've got other things to worry about."

Kenny moved away from Sarita, who had a sad look on her face, and faced the horde that was slowly approaching. "Shit, I thought they were coming from the South."

Rebecca stepped up next to Kenny. "They did, but it looks like we're in the eye of it now." Clementine looked over to the pair to see that Mike was also there. "Fuck... we are so fucking fucked."

"Here," Clementine looked up to see Luke holding a weapon of some sort out to her. She took it and held it close. "You're gonna need this." Clementine nodded at Luke. "Yeah, thanks." Looking back out at the horde, Clementine moved closer, she was going to have to fight again, not that it was something she wasn't used too.

A couple of the Walker's broke off from the main group and headed towards them. Clementine watched one of them as it headed in her direction and held up her sharp weapon. When it got close enough, Clementine thrust herself forward and into the skull of the Walker, knocking him to the ground.

The guns went off at that moment, Walker's were dropping like flies around them. "You guys better gut up, if you wanna live." Clementine heard Jane call from somewhere off to the side. Slowly, Clementine lowered herself to kneel beside the body of the dead walker and sliced him open. "Do it quick, or we are gonna be so fucked."

Clementine reached into the body and started to smear the blood and guts over her jacket. "I'll go first." Sarah looked horrified. "You're gonna put that on yourself?"

Clementine looked over her shoulder, slightly annoyed. "We have to, Sarah!" Clementine rubbed more of the guts on her face and neck, she then turned to Sarah. "Okay, now you... turn around."

Clementine ignored Sarah as she complained about the smell and concentrated on covering her in the stench of the dead. It was her only priority right now. She had to make sure that Sarah was good and covered for fear that she would be bitten by the workers. Sarah was useless on her own and even though she was going to be more of a hindrance to the group then and kind of decent help, Clementine had inadvertently come to call her a friend.

Soon Carlos arrived. "It'll be okay, Honey. Just stay still." He began to help Clementine with the smearing. "Are you sure?" Carlos nodded. "There is nothing to fear if you remain calm. I'll keep you safe."

"Hurry the fuck up."

Jane was not in a good mood as the walkers were getting closer. Carlos looked at Clementine. "Turn around; I'll get your back." Clementine did as she was told, all the while watching the walkers get ever closer.

"We ain't got all day here, everybody ready? They're almost on us." Kenny was antsy about the walkers, everybody was.

"What the actual fuck is going on here! What is this sick shit? Someone say something before I start- hey! Don't you even fucking think about it Motherfucker! I will end you! You hear me?!" Troy had found as and as Luke had moved to pick up his gun, Troy had spotted him. Luke raised his hands to the air and stood up, facing Troy.

Jane stood up. "Troy. Troy we talked about this." She held her hand out to him and started moving towards him.

"What? The fuck you talkin' about?"

"I told you I wanted to get out." Jane insisted. "You said you'd help, then I'd help."

"I thought you meant get outta the pen! Not whatever the fuck this shit is!"

Jane kept backing him up. "I did, but now we can leave. Troy... you can come with us."

Troy looked at Jane, slightly confused. "What?" He lowered his gun slowly. "Well... where would we go?"

Jane closed in on him. "Away from here... together..."

Troy smiled. "Man, you smell really bad, you gotta get a bath before we-" _Bang!_ Jane shot Troy.

"Ahh! You shot my dick off! You son of a-"

Clementine looked at Jane in shock. "Come on, don't make any noise, they might hear something they don't like. And for fucks sake, WALK. Act like you belong and you will belong."

Jane led everyone into the horde. Clementine followed Carlos and Sarah through. The Walkers surrounded them, but did not attack, instead they kept walking past the group, heading for the building. Soon the sound of gunfire took over the place and as Clementine looked back, she saw the people of the compound attempting to fight off the walkers.

Clementine kept behind Carlos, she could hear talking around her, some from Jane and Mike, others from Kenny, but she was mainly focused on keeping herself slow and quiet. Sarah however had different ideas; she was beginning to freak out. "Shh, quiet, Honey. Clementine, come help me out." Carlos called, "Calm her down, please. Just say something. You're her friend."

Clementine moved closer to Sarah and was about to tell her it was going to be alright, when suddenly, a shot rang out, Carlos fell forward. "DAD!" Sarah and Clementine ran to him, but a walker got there first.

Sarah lost it. "DAD! DADDD! NO!" She was screaming and the walkers began to notice that there were people around them too.

More shots rang out as walkers went down. Bonnie knocked one away before it could bit Clementine. "Sarah, you need to calm down. Clementine!"

Clementine turned to see a walker and hit it with her weapon, knocking it away. Turning back to Sarah, she tried again. "Run, Sarah!" A walker in front of Clementine caught her attention, before she turned back to Sarah. "Sarah, did you-" but Clementine didn't finish her sentence, because Sarah was already running.

Clementine turned around just in time to see another walker heading her way. She slashed at its head and ducked under another one, before being knocked to the ground by a third. Stumbling back to her feet, Clementine narrowly missed being chewed on by another when she slammed the sharp edge of her weapon into its skull, bringing it to the ground. Unluckily, it became lodged in the walkers head and only twisting and pulling relentlessly forced it loose and into the skull of yet another walker.

Clementine quickly moved away and went in search of Sarah, however she soon found Sarita and she was not in a very good position. Clementine had only a second to make her choice, a second that felt like years. Bringing her hatchet down on Sarita's arm, twice, Clementine removed the threat of infection.

~! #$%^&amp;*()_+

Still Clementine did not regret her actions. What more could she have done? The woman would have died if not for her help. Admittedly, she died anyway, Clementine had forgotten the blood already on her hatchet and so Sarita's wound had been infected by the walker blood. Still, Clementine maintained that she had done what she could and had it not been her hatchet, Sarita wouldn't have survived anyway. She had been bit and all people who got bitten, died. She had seen it with Lee and she had seen it with Pete, both had died and would die.

Clementine picked up the leg again and began to finish it off. The others were just watching her, apparently having noticed that she had been remembering something, because after everyone else was finished, Decker came looking for her. "Wot was'all that back there?"

Clementine looked up at him and shrugged. She was sitting near the fire, twisting her gun around in her hands. "You trust me so quickly." Clementine said, averting her eyes and staring into the fire.

Decker seemed confused and sat down next to her. "I don' get'ya, Darlin'."

Clementine didn't look at him, but she decided to elaborate. "You trust me. You just let me in, no questions asked. I could be anyone. I could be some kind of murderer here to kill you in your sleep."

Decker moved to place his arm around Clementine's shoulders, but she flinched away and he thought better of it. "Yer a kid. You said yer'self yer on'y eleven. How culd _you_ be some kin'na murderer?"

Clementine flashed him a glance and something in her eyes made him hesitate, but only slightly. "Well, are yer here to murder us in our sleep?"

This time Clementine looked at him and shook her head. Decker smiled. "Then whas the big deal?"

Clementine gripped her gun and looked back into the flames. "Because I'm not the innocent little girl you think I am."

Decker laughed slightly. "Darlin' if you were the sweet innocen' lil'girl I thowt yer were, ye'd be dead. There ain't nothing in this world, that culd make me more sure'en that, then the fact that yer right here and yer _alive._"

Clementine didn't believe a word of it, but she nodded anyway and Decker moved away. She couldn't tell them the truth, she didn't think they would believe her anyway.


	3. Three Months Later

**Three Months Later**

**I am so sorry this has taken me so long to get to. I've been so busy with uni and everything and I'm writing an original book too! So I hope you guys like this next instalment!**

**Disclaimer: This world is not mine, but belongs to Telltale Games and whoever created the original stories!**

* * *

"Clementine! Would you be so kind as 'ter go with Tommy? He's up on the ridge looken fer another rabbit or sommen. Could be he's got lost agen."

Clementine shook her head in annoyance as she signalled her understanding to Patty. She grabbed her knife and her gun and hiked up the side of the hill to see if she could find that idiot of a boy they had for a son. He was supposed to be twenty five, but she hardly believed him.

Managing to make it to the top of the ridge, Clementine shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked around for Tommy, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Where was he? "Tommy! Tommy are you here?!"

She began to make her way along the ridge. Maybe he was tracking something, or perhaps he was surrounded by walkers. That wouldn't surprise her at all. Rolling her eyes, Clementine tried again. "Tommy! Your mum asked me to come find you. She's worried." There was still no response.

Now Clementine was starting to get a little worried. She didn't really like Tommy all that much, but she didn't hate him and he didn't deserve to get bitten by a walker. None of them did. After spending three months with this family, she had grown to like them, at least enough to want to help them. "Come on Tommy! Don't be like this."

Stopping as she came upon a set of trees, Clementine sighed and turned back to look towards where she came from. This was ridiculous. She couldn't stay out here all day. She needed to get back and help Regina with the cooking. "Tommy, if I find you I'm gonna kill you myself. I swear!"

"Keep yer voice down!" Clementine jumped as hands grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the trees.

She looked about her wildly, hoping to find the source of this annoyance when she realised that she knew the voice. She stopped struggling so that Tommy would know she was calm and then proceeded to punch him in the arm once he'd let her go. "What the hell?" She hissed, crouching behind a tree with him. "What are you doing?"

Tommy shushed her again before pointing in the general direction of the deep depths of the forest. "There're two men campin' out just through there. I dunno who they are, but they 'ave a coupla guns. I can'tell if they're friendly or not, but I dun wanna find out neither."

Clementine nodded and looked where he was pointing. She couldn't see anyone, but that was not a surprise, considering how many trees were between them and the other camp. "You don't think they heard me yelling, do you?"

Tommy looked at Clementine, and she could tell that he was definitely worried about exactly that. "Nah, nah I think we're good." He was lying, obviously, but Clementine could tell he was saying this more for his own comfort than for hers.

"Do you think we can wait them out? Maybe we should find your dad?"

Tommy shook his head. "Nah. That'll just freakout mum. I dun wan' her to worry." He gripped his gun. "We got this. It's fine."

Clementine tried her hardest to ignore the tone of defeat in the man's mind, but she was beginning to think that perhaps he was a lost cause. If she could handle this better than he could, how ever were they supposed to survive this world? She shook her head and grabbed Tommy's arm, forcing him to look at her. "You listen to me. We can _not_ allow those men to find your family. Who knows what they might do. We just scout them out, see if they've noticed us and if they have… well, then we'll do what has to be done. You hear me?"

Tommy hesitated a moment, but eventually he nodded. Clementine nodded back and turned towards where the unknown camp was. "Okay, just follow my lead."

Moving out from behind the tree, Clementine quickly, but quietly, moved herself through the trees with Tommy follow behind directly behind her. She had her knife at the ready and was forcing her breathing to remain calm. Killing walkers was one thing, but people were a whole different matter. You didn't always know what they wanted from you. At least with a walker, you knew it wanted to eat you.

Closing in on the camp, you noted that there was only one tent. Well, Tommy had said that there were only two people and that tent definitely looked big enough to fit two. Maybe three. Clementine bit her lip and slowed to a crawl. Two they could probably handle, but three? What if there was someone who'd be able to get the jump on them? This wasn't good. Clementine held back and thought about what the situation could be. If there were three people, they would need to be extra careful. Not to mention the fact that whilst she could see the tents, she could see no movement within them, nor could she see any movement elsewhere. Which begged the question. "Where are they?"

Tommy shrugged and leaned closer to Clementine. "What d'you think? Maybe they found their way t'ar camp? Maybe they're torturing ma family right now!"

Clementine immediately clamped her hand over Tommy's mouth and shushed him. "Goddammit, would you shut up. You know to be quiet. You warned me about them, remember. Hush!" Though she had spoken harshly, her words were low, so that only Tommy would hear them. Though given the way he is acting, Clementine was unsure that he'd actually heard them.

"But they're gone! 'ow can they jus' be gone? They can't'ov just moved on. That's not right." Clementine rolled her eyes and decided that she was definitely leaving him for the walkers next time.

"Oi, if you don't shut up, they're gonna find-"

"You should listen to the wee lassie, boy. She knows what she's talking aboot."

Clementine immediately froze at the introduction of a new voice. It was a strange accent, definitely not one she was surrounded with on a normal day. She turned to look at the owner of the voice, a fairly tall man with fair skin and curly greying hair. His left eye was bruised, it looked like someone or something had hit him. His shirt was torn in several places, but apart from that, he seemed to be quite fine. From what she could tell, Clementine would guess his age to be in about his early to mid fifties.

"You alright there lassie? This boy here upsettin' yoo?"

Tommy was now looking at another man that had joined them from behind. He'd not yet spoken, but Clementine could tell just from his stance that they were in dangerous territory. The second man was taller than the first, with darker skin and green eyes. His hair, which was black and curly reaching down past his shoulders, was styled in cornrows. Clementine had not seen cornrows since before the outbreak. Neither of the men smelled particularly good.

"Um… not especially. He's um… my brother."

The first man rose an eyebrow and looked between them. "He's yer brother ya say. Well now, why didn't you just say so, eh? We didn't mean to scare ya." He stepped back a little, though the gesture did little to ease Clementine's nerves.

"Wot'chya doin' out here all by yaselves?" This time the second man spoke. Clementine did not know his age, but he was younger than the first man by a significant margin. Either way, she'd not care to know either of them anymore than she already did.

"We were just looking for food. We were hungry. We've not eaten for a couple of days." Clementine told them, wishing to anything and everything that Tommy would keep his mouth shut. They might be hesitant to hurt her, seeing as she was a very unthreatening little girl. She couldn't say the same about her companion. "I'm sorry that we wandered to close to your camp. It was an honest mistake."

The second man went to say something, but the first man held up his hand. "We'll take 'em to our group. They'll know what tae do with 'em."

Clementine sighed in defeat. She knew there was nothing that they could do. "Come on. They've got us. Let's just go with them." She looked from Tommy and then back to the two men. They gestured for her to go ahead of them, and so she did, with Tommy trailing behind her.

~! #$%^&amp;*()_+

It took them a couple of hours, but eventually they managed to get to wherever it was they were going. Clementine's feet were killing her. "Can I rest now? Please, my foot hurts."

Tommy looked at her as the two men that escorted them ignored her and kept walking through the small group of people to a central tent. "What's up?"

Clementine tried unsuccessfully to reach down and pull off her shoe, whilst she was still walk/hopping, through the people. "I dunno, but I'm pretty sure that I stepped on a rock or something, maybe it went through my shoe?" She was mostly thinking out loud, but Tommy's words of comfort, though lame, did a lot to boost her morale. If not for herself, then definitely for him.

They came to a stop in front of the tent and Clementine took a moment to survey the people. From her count, which was difficult with moving people, there were maybe fourteen people, three of which were children younger than she was. They probably wouldn't be able to take them all, but a few well aimed shots at children, or feet, that mint be enough to give them the distraction they needed. If only she could somehow let Decker and Patty know where they were. They were hours away, surely they would have been missed by now. Unless they think that they both got lost, in which case, they are both pretty screwed.

The first man who had eventually identified himself was Randy stuck his head inside the tent. "We got a couple of lurkers out here for yoo. Says they were out lookin' fer food."

There was a muffled reply from inside the tent. Clementine couldn't be sure, but… was that a voice she knew?

"Yah, I caught'em lurkin' out'n aboot in the trees."

Another muffled reply came, though this time she distinctly heard "one of them a girl?"

"Yep. Says the other is her brother."

This time the man stepped backwards to allow the exit of whoever was inside. Clementine waited with baited breath to see who was there. The person that stepped out from the curtain was a face that Clementine knew, though she could not quite put her finger on it. She was older now, physically about two years, but, she looked quite a bit older than that. She'd been through a lot, Clementine could clearly see that in the way she held herself. Where before her hair was probably a nice brown colour, it now contained streaks of grey. She was in her mid thirties at least. Clementine looked at Tommy, but he was not paying attention to her, instead he was busy looking at all of the people. If Clementine didn't know any better, she would think he was counting them.

"Hello, Clementine."

Clementine looked back at the woman that had now joined them. Her eyes widened as she realised who she was looking at.

"It's been a long time, kiddo. I see you got yourself a new group. How's that working out for you?"

Tommy whipped his head around to look at Clementine. "You know this bitch?"

Clementine nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I know her alright."


	4. A Familiar Face

**A Familiar Face**

**Here is the next instalment guys! I felt it only right to get this one done quickly after leaving for so long!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing bar the original characters.**

* * *

Everyone filed out of the RV as Kenny went around the front to see what they had hit. Lily had been in a bad mood since Kenny had dropped that salt square on her father's head. She was high strung and angry.

"Ben, you have until Kenny kills that walker to tell me it was you."

Ben was panicked. "No!"

Lily was not happy. "Ben!"

Doug was worried, he didn't know what was happening. "Lily."

"This is about trust and I've never trusted you." Lily told Ben, glaring straight through him.

Lee was trying to calm the situation, but even he was at a loss. "Tell her. Just do it, Ben."

"Lee!"

Ben was shaking his head. "Tell her what?! She'll kick me out of the group!"

Lee stepped back, "we won't. We'll understand."

Lily jumped back in. "Tell me. Now."

Kenny pulled half of the walker out from under the van. Clementine could see that they were running out of time.

"Please, let's just get back into the RV."

Lily shook her head. "That's not happening."

"I can't handle this." Doug said, looking around at everyone.

Kenny dug his heel into the head of the walker from under the RV and walked towards the rest of the group. "There, I got 'im. Now what the fuck's the problem?"

Lily held a gun up to Ben and cocked it. Clementine called out for Ben, whilst Doug pulled him out of the way. The gun went off, missing Ben completely, and shooting Doug instead.

The group was shocked. Lily stared at Doug's body in shock. She had not meant to shoot him.

Lee stared at Lily and pushed her up against the RV. "DROP IT."

Lily did as she was told and dropped the gun. She was still in shock. This wasn't how things were supposed to be.

The group gathered around Doug. "Holy fuck." Kenny didn't know what to say.

Katjaa called out from inside the RV. "KENNY, what's happening?!"

"Keep Duck away from the windows! Jesus CHRIST!" He walked around Doug to where Lee was, holding Lily against the RV. "GET IN. We're leaving this crazy bitch!"

Lily was broken, even Clementine could see that. "I didn't mean too. It wasn't supposed to be him."

Lee let go of Lily. "Just get in, we'll figure out what to do with you."

Eventually, they came across a train, though it didn't look like it would be going anywhere anytime soon. Whilst everyone was trying to work out how to fix it, Clementine sat with Katjaa and Duck. She knew he was sick, though she wasn't sure why. She was pretty sure he got bitten, but she wouldn't say anything.

Clementine watched patiently, sometimes talking to Ben, sometimes to Lee, sometimes to Chuck as everyone worked to fix the train. Eventually she saw Lee head back to the RV. He was in there for a while before he came back out and headed towards her. She watched on, confused as she suddenly saw Lily in the front seat of the RV. What was happening?

Lee turned back to look behind him, Kenny came running out of the train. "Holy shit, she's stealing the RV!"

"Lily!"

"Come back here you crazy bitch!"

Everyone went running after her, but it was too late. She was already gone.

~! #$%^&amp;*()_+

"Lily."

Lily smiled and waved the rest of her people away. They looked surprised that she knew the pair, or at least that she knew the little girl. Clementine wasn't sure what she was supposed to make of this.

"The last time I saw you, you were a little girl."

Clementine snorted. "Yeah, well the last time I saw you, you were leaving us behind… to die."

Lily frowned slightly and shook her head. "I wasn't. I didn't mean… I knew you would be fine. You had Lee and the others. You had a train. You were going to leave _me_ behind."

Clementine shook her head. "No we weren't. Lee wanted to let you stay!"

Lily was silent for a while. "Come to my tent. I want to talk to you privately."

Tommy's eyes widened as he looked at Clementine, but she shook her head and followed Lily. Whatever Lily might be now, she was sure that sentiment would not allow her to harm either of them. After all, Clementine had never felt anything but a friendship with Lily all that time ago. Regardless of what might have happened with Doug.

Lily walked over to a table and picked up what looked like an apple. Clementine's eyes widened in shock.

"You like apples, Clem? There's a group about a half a day's drive from here that owns an orchard. We trade with them on occasion. We protect them, they supply us with food when we are running low. It's a win-win situation."

Clementine looked at the apple that Lily was twirling in her fingers. "I haven't seen an apple in… I don't even know how long."

Lily smiled and tossed the apple over to Clementine, laughing slightly when Clementine had to jump to catch it. "Sorry, I'm used to taller people."

Clementine said nothing and just looked at the fruit. "Who are these people?"

Lily walked around her tent before coming to a stop at the foot of her bed and sitting down, gesturing to the chair across the table. "Come and sit, then we can talk."

Clementine did as she was asked, sitting across from Lily and taking a cautious bite from her gift. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever tasted.

"You were supposed to come with me you know."

Clementine frowned. "What?"

"Back with the RV. You and Lee. I offered for you to come with me."

Clementine swallowed the piece of apple she was chewing and turned her eyes to the ground. "He said no."

"He agreed to it."

Clementine looked up. "Then… why did you?"

Lily crossed her legs and leaned back slightly. "Why did I leave?"

Clementine nodded.

"Well, honestly, I don't really know. I think, if I had to guess, it was that I could see that Lee still didn't trust me. After what happened with my father and with Doug, he would never have let me out of his sight. I could see that after he accepted my offer. I knew that if I ever wanted to escape my past… then… well…" She sighed and looked at Clementine. "Truthfully, I just couldn't admit my own weakness, not even to myself."

Clementine didn't know what to say.

"Where is he anyway? And Katjaa and Kenny? The others?"

Clementine had been wondering whether or not she would ask and though she had tried to prepare herself for the question, it appeared that she had not been prepared enough. Almost as soon as the question was asked, Clementine felt her eyes begin to well with tears, but she rubbed them away and looked back at Lily. "Dead."

Lily was shocked. Of any of them, she would have thought that at least Lee would have survived. "Do you mind if I… what happened?"

Clementine breathed deeply and took another bite of her apple. Then she launched into the tale of the last two years. Much had happened. She told Lily of the fates of Duck and Katjaa. What happened to Chuck. Kenny's spiral into depression. Ben's death at the bell tower. Running into Christa and Omid. Her kidnapping. Lee's death. Christa's pregnancy. Omid's death. Christa's unknown fate. The whole business with Carver's group and then finally, her subsequent discovery of Tommy and his family.

"So he just left you behind to die?" Lily asked, now chewing on an apple of her own.

Clementine nodded. "Yeah. I had to climb a tree to get away from the walkers. It was scary."

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I can bet. Wow. You have been through so much since I last saw you."

Clementine shrugged and placed her now finished apple on the table. "Yeah, well I had to grow up at some point, didn't I?"

Lily looked ashamed at that and placed her half finished apple on her lap. "Look, I really am sorry Clem. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you."

"You could let me and my friend go."

"I thought he was your brother?"

Clementine rolled her eyes. "You and I both know that he's not."

Lily smiled. "He's too old for a start."

Clementine smiled back. "You wouldn't think it to hear him whine. Seriously, he's a big damn baby. I have to do everything. I have no idea how any of them made it this far."

Lily stood up and placed her hand warmly on Clementine's shoulder, before pulling her into a tight hug. "It really is good to see you again, Kiddo."

Clementine hugged Lily back. Despite it all, she'd never found it within herself to hate the woman. She understood better now, what she hadn't back then and though Lee had tried to protect her from a lot of it, Clementine had to grow up fast. "Yeah. It's good to see you too."

Lily stepped back and headed out of the tent, with Clementine following behind. As she looked around for Tommy, she noted that he was standing over with Randy and a couple of others. He looked like he was unharmed. He looked rather happy, truth be told.

"What were the pair of you doing behind that tree anyway?" Lily finally asked, leading Clementine across the open expanse and over to a fire pit.

"Oh, well, I was looking for Tommy, because his mother thought he might've gotten lost. When I found him he was staking out that little camp of yours up north. He thought Randy and that other guy might have been out to hurt us."

Lily nodded. "If you are up in that area, they probably won't be the last group you'll see. I have people everywhere, guarding this place. We don't want to be over run by walkers or other people you know."

Clementine nodded. "Tommy and his family call them Shufflers, because they take so long to move everywhere."

Lily laughed. "Yeah, a couple of different names popped up within my group too. Walkers, Abominations, God's Forsaken, Biters, Rotters, Infected. There's all sorts of things to call them."

Clementine shook her head. Why they were having a discussion about names for those things was unknown, but it was a safe discussion, it wasn't straying into any unfriendly territory. "Lee first called them things… he didn't know what they were when I found him."

Lily stopped to look at Clementine, crouching down to look at her. "Lee was lucky that you found him Clementine. What happened was not your fault."

Clementine looked down.

"Listen to me Clem. It. Was. Not. Your. Fault."

Though she had heard it many times, hearing it again did very little to reassure her. "I don't believe you, but thanks anyway."

Lily sighed and stepped away from her. "Well, either way, if you want I have authorised Randy to take the two of you back to your camp. I'll give word to the others to keep an eye on your camp as well. Let you know if we see anyone heading your way."

Clementine nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Lily. I never expected to see you again."

Lily smiled. "One thing you learn in this new world, it's not really as big as we think it is."

~! #$%^&amp;*()_+

"Thank the stars!" Regina and Patty ran and enveloped Clementine and Tommy in a tight hug as they walked back to the camp. "We were thinken' you'd gotten the chomp."

Clementine laughed and waved at Randy as he headed back to his truck. "Nah. We ran into another group. Their leader was someone I knew from way before, back during the beginning of all of this."

Decker nodded and turned to his son, clipping him over the ear. "And you! What're ya thinkin' takin' the poor girl outta the camp like that?" He asked, anger rising. "Yer poor mother thought yeh were dead. R worse. Stupid, selfish…" The list of insults went on, but Clementine had walked away. Lee was standing near her tent, smiling.

"Lee."

"It's good to see you back unharmed, Sweet Pea."

Clementine crawled into her tent and smiled when Lee joined her. "I saw Lily."

Lee nodded. "How did that go?"

Clementine shrugged. "She gave me an apple. It was nice."

Lee laughed slightly and shook his head. "Guess she did well for herself then."

Clementine nodded. "Yeah, and then she-"

Clementine was interrupted by the sound of gunshots and rushed out of her tent in time to see a group of three people brandishing guns and other weapons as they began shooting at Patty and her family.

"No!" Clementine rushed to their aid, grabbing her knife as she went.

"Shit there's a kid, Sam, grab her!"

Clementine dodged the one named Sam and thrust her hand up into his face, her knife narrowly missing his eye. It scraped along his head instead, taking off his ear.

"Fuck! She's fucking nutts!"

Clementine kept running, heading for the man with the gun. "Just fucking grab her, man!"

Clementine ignored whatever else they were saying and continued towards them. Dodging the hands that were trying to grab her, Clementine kicked one of the men in the leg, dropping him before slicing his throat. The second shooter stood shocked for a moment before he turned his gun on her. She threw her knife at him, catching him in the throat. He immediately dropped his gun. She rushed over and grabbed his gun, turning and pointing it at the third, Sam.

"Please, don't-"

Clementine did not wait for him to beg. A shot rang out and the man fell to the ground, dead.


End file.
